Matthew Perry says he was aware of Jennifer Aniston and David Schwimmer’s feelings for each other (Picture: Rex)

Matthew Perry has revealed he ‘knew’ his Friends co-stars Jennifer Aniston and David Schwimmer had feelings for each other.

The acclaimed actors revealed last year on the Friends reunion that Ross and Rachel almost happened in real life, as the pair had crushes on one another during the early seasons of the show.

Speaking on the massively anticipated HBO show, where the six Central Perk regulars reunited and reflected on their time on the show for the first time, Ross actor David admitted: ‘The first season I had a major crush on Jen and at some point we were both crushing on each other.’

Now Chandler star Matthew has revealed he knew the pair were ‘crushing on each other’ and it eventually helped him get over his own feelings for the actress.

Speaking on the Jess Cagle podcast, Matthew – who has just released memoir Friend, Lovers and The Big Terrible Thing – was asked about David and Jennifer’s almost-relationship and how it affected him.

Matthew has previously admitted he had a crush on Jennifer, though nothing happened between them, and he now says he knew David and Jen fancied each other.

Matthew knew his Friends co-stars had feelings for each other even as he nursed a crush on Jennifer (Picture: Getty Images )

David and Jennifer revealed last year that they had real-life crushes on one another during the show (Picture: Getty Images)

Asked by the podcast host if he was ‘seething with anger to hear about this unrequited love,’ Matthew laughed: ‘I knew, I knew what was going on!’

‘And then my crush dissipated,’ he explained.

‘At first it was like, she would walk in and I’d be like “Hey good to see you!” and I’d go to my dressing gown and just be like, “Ugh. I’ll never be able to be with her.” But how could you not have a crush on Jennifer Aniston?

‘But I did at one point just go “Alright that’s enough. It’s been enough now.”‘

Matthew opened up about his crush on Jennifer an said eventually he just thought ‘That’s enough’ (Picture: Rex/Shutterstock)

Fans of the popular sitcom were driven wild in 2021 when Jennifer and David admitted to have had feelings for each other in the past, with David admitting: ‘It was like two ships passing because one of us was always in a relationship and we never crossed that boundary. We always respected that.’

Jennifer added at the time: ‘I remember saying to David, “it’s going to be such a bummer if the first time you and I actually kiss is going to be on national television.”

‘Sure enough first time we kissed was in that coffee shop!’

She added: ‘But we just channelled all our love and adoration for each other into Ross and Rachel.’

The sitcom remains beloved around the world decades after it first aired (Picture: NBC Universal)

In his memoir, 17 Again actor Matthew revealed Jennifer once turned him down when he asked her out on a date before they became co-stars on one of the world’s most popular sitcoms.

He later admitted in an interview with ABC News that he also had crushes on his on-screen wife Courteney Cox, and Phoebe Buffay actress Lisa Kudrow.

Speaking to Diane Sayer, he said ‘is the funniest, maybe the funniest person I’ve ever worked with, and just sees the world in a really funny way,’ describing her as one of his ‘serial crushes.’

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‘Well, how can you not have a crush on Jenny, and Courteney, and Lisa?’ he responded.

‘So it made it kind of difficult to go to work, because I had to pretend that I didn’t.’

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Matthew has been open about his own crush on Jennifer.